‘Anhey Gorhey da Daan’ (Alms of the Blind Horse) a film in Punjabi directed by Gurvinder Singh and based on the novel of the same title on the so-called Dalit theme by Gurdial Singh, has been selected for the 68th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica – Venice International Film Festival – to be held from August 31, 2011 to September 10, 2011.
This is the first Punjabi film to make it to an international film festival of great repute and that too in the category of a competing entry. The film produced by the Indian National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) was shot in Bathinda (India) earlier this year. It has all non-professional local Punjabi cast except the one main role played by Samuel John of Patiala.
Synopsis: On a foggy winter morning, a family in a village in Punjab wakes up to the news of the demolition of a house on the outskirts of the village. The father, a silent sympathiser, joins the community in demand for justice. The same day, his son Melu, a rickshaw puller in the city, is participating in a strike by his union. Injured and alienated, Melu spends the day quietly resting and hesitantly drinks with friends in the night as they debate the meaning of their existence. Cycling through the city streets, Melu feels lost and wonders where to go and what to do. Back in the village, his mother feels humiliated at the treatment meted out by the landlords in whose fields she works. Gunshots are heard in the night and the village is tense. It’s the night of the lunar eclipse. A man wanders asking for the traditional alms while Father decides to visit the city with a friend, even as his daughter Dayalo walks through the village streets in the night.
According to Gurvinder Singh, ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ attempts to evoke the effect of years of subordination of the struggling classes reflected in the macrocosm of events spinning beyond their control. It is about silent witnesses devoid of power to change or influence the course of destiny; about the invisible violence of the power equation and the simmering discontent reflected on the faces of those who are downtrodden and suffering.
About the Director: Having graduated from Delhi University in 1995, and working briefly as a graphic artist in advertising before post graduating from the Pune University, Gurvinder Singh went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, graduating finally in 2001.
He has made documentaries on the art form of subaltern folk music in Punjab from 2002 to 2006. Anhey Ghorhey da Daan is his first feature film.
First Punjabi film reaches Venice Film Festival
